What blogs does a professional genealogist read?

To be quite honest, I don’t always have a lot of blog-reading time. My Google Reader list contains many blogs that I enjoy, and yet there are regularly “1000+” unread posts. But here are some of my favorites, in no particular order, and why:

APA Style Blog: Though genealogists tend to follow the Evidence Explained models, based on The Chicago Manual of Style, the folks in charge of the American Psychological Association citation style guide have a blog. In this blog, they often discuss citation issues that can provide insight into any style.

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing: This blog is actually meant to be heard as opposed to read, but the audio is pretty short. Grammar Girl discusses English grammar, including what words, punctuation, and capitalization are grammatically correct. But she does it in a fun and interesting way!

Quips and Tips for Successful Writers: Freelance writer Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen quotes some of the greatest writers in history before launching into each blog post, which then discuss other issues surrounding freelance writing, both fiction and nonfiction, especially topics like “how to get published.”

GeneaBlogie: Craig Manson is an attorney by trade, but his blog is centered on genealogy. Many of my favorite articles are those in which he discusses legal issues relevant to genealogists. Craig is currently remodeling his blog, and his new ideas will include an e-book library, videos, and topical pages.

Reclaiming Kin: This blog focuses on African-American genealogy, and is written by one of my good friends, Robyn Smith. Robyn discusses both her own personal genealogy research as well as tips on methodology and research sources. Very well-written, too!

David Paterson’s Journal: David Paterson is the coordinator of the Slave Research Forum on the site Afrigeneas.net. But more importantly, he is a trained historian rather than a genealogist. His blog, though sporadic, is extremely useful by informing readers about the resources that historians are using for their research.

Geneabloggers: Need I even mention this blog? Unless this is the very first genealogy-related blog that you have ever read in your life, you are already familiar with Thomas MacEntee’s blog that serves as a way to unite the wide world of genealogy blogs. Thomas has several recurring posts including those that describe various blogging “memes,” introduce new blogs (including this one this week). Thomas also runs the weekly Geneabloggers Radio (on BlogTalkRadio) which presents wonderful guests discussing various topics in genealogy. Recent shows have concerned British Genealogy, Finding Your Female Ancestors, and Irish Genealogy (for St. Patrick’s Day). Past episodes can be listened to “on-demand” as well.

The Historical Society: “The Historical Society promotes scholarly history that enriches public understanding.” History and genealogy should go hand-in-hand, in my opinion, so I love to read historical blogs as well as genealogy blogs.

Speaking Practically: A blog about public speaking, written by Kelly Vandever. Great tips on speaking and giving presentations.

Genwriting Blog: Phyllis Matthews Ziller, an active professional genealogists and writer, writes this blog in connection with her GenWriters website. The blog discusses genealogical research and writing, but you will also find many extremely helpful tips on the main website.

These are not the only blogs I read. I have literally hundreds of blog subscriptions, and I read many other blogs from time to time based on links on Twitter, Facebook, other blogs, and other social media.

There were quite a few genealogy blogs that I read on a regular basis, including Genea-Musings and others such as footnoteMaven and your own WeTree. There simply were far too many genealogy blogs that I try to keep up with to mention them all, so I chose a few of my personal favorites.

Michael,
Thanks for mentioning a3Genealogy. Although many of those listed here are familiar, thanks for introducing me to a few new ones! I look forward to reading some of the posts. Thanks for what you do for the genealogy community.

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